Volume 3, Issue 1, January – 2018
ISSN No:-2456 –2165
Indoor Navigation System for Firefighters
(Fireguide System)
Bhavana Sangare1, Sahil Mulla2, Shailaja Mishra3, Ajitkumar Khachane4
Department of Information Technololgy, Vidyalankar Institute of Technology, Vidyalankar College Marg,
Wadala East, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400037
Abstract—A navigation system is a system that aids in
navigation. Firefighting is an alarming job to perform as
there can be several unpredictable threats while rescuing
victims. Since the firefighters are not aware about the
internal structure of the fire ridden building, they will not
be able to find the location of the EXIT door, a fact that
can prove to be catastrophic. We introduce an indoor
navigation system (FIREGUIDE) using RFID technology.
Keywords—Indoor, Navigation System, Firefighters, RFID,
Shortest Route Application, FIREGUIDE.
I. INTRODUCTION
Firefighters put their own lives in danger to save innocent
people trapped inside a building encompassed by fire. The
frame of mind of firefighters during a rescue operation is not
completely steady due to loss of visibility, urgent condition of
victims and many other environmental factors. In such a
situation, if the firefighters get puzzled about the location of the
nearest exit door, then lives of both firefighters and victims are
imperiled.
To address these issues, we introduce the FIREGUIDE system
which combines indoor localization using passive RFID
technology implemented on an Android Smartphone. The
firefighter will carry an Android Smartphone and a RFID
glove. In the environment, we set up passive R-tags tags
(RFID-tags) on the walls and along the baseboard. The system
also includes a FIREGUIDE server that stores information
about the building and calculates the directions to the closest
exit. It is evident that the FIREGUIDE system will save a
significant number of firefighters and victims lives. We
envision that FIREGUIDE can be provided as a subscription
service to the fire departments. For wide deployment of such a
system, each commercial building will be required to deploy
the proposed infrastructure and share the building blueprints
and tag deployment with such a service provider.
IJISRT18JA235 www.ijisrt.com
International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
II. FIREGUIDE SYSTEM
FIREGUIDE uses multiple wireless technologies, (RFID and
Bluetooth module) to collect information required to calculate
a firefighter’s location and transmit this information to the
FIREGUIDE application.
RFID: Radio frequency identification is an automatic ID
system. An RFID tag provides a unique identification code that
can be read by a scanning device, like a barcode or the
magnetic strip on a credit card.
Scanning Range: An RFID reader can scan a tag as long as it is
within frequency range. It does not have any line-of-sight
limitations.
RFID Costs: RFID systems bring their own cost benefits, such
as reduced labor costs and improved efficiency.
Speed and Convenience: RFID readers can scan tags in
milliseconds and work automatically.
FIREGUIDE system includes two different applications to
guide a firefighter towards the EXIT doors.
1. Shortest Route application
2. Audio Instruction database
III. FIREGUIDE SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE
The FIREGUIDE system architecture consists of the
following components:
• Environment- Passive RFID tags (R-tags) deployed in the
building.
• User Device–RFID glove and the Android based
Smartphone.
• FIREGUIDE Server–FIREGUIDE server stores the
unique ID (of deployed R-tags), corresponding images to
the exit, respective audio instructions, and communicates
with the user device.
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Volume 3, Issue 1, January – 2018 International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456 –2165

A. Environment:
1.
The environment includes passive RFID tags (R-tags)
providing very accurate location information.

Passive RFID tag (R-tag): R-tags are densely deployed in the

building. They are located at baseboard level and at each door
of the building at a 4ft height. Granularity was the main reason
behind selecting this technology for our system. Proximity of
2-3 cm is required to transfer data from an RFID tag into the
reader. Other reasons for selecting these R-tags were their cost
and the fact that they do not need an active power source.

Fig 3 Front view of RFID Glove

Fig.1

IV. FIREGUIDE CLIENT MODULE

This section describes the client software which includes the

RFID glove and the Android Smartphone for visual
representation.

A. RFID Glove:

The RFID Glove allows the user free use of his hand as well as
the ability to scan an R-tag.
Fig 2: RFID Glove (back view) Scanning an R-Tag
Fig 4: Picture of Surroundings of Room 312
The R-tag is scanned by placing the palm on top of R-tag. The
glove communicates the unique ID represented by an R-tag
using Bluetooth technology to the Android Smartphone. There
are 2 buttons (Button A and B) present on the glove. Both
buttons perform different functions implemented in
Smartphone to guide the firefighters with the navigation. When
R-tag is scanned by the firefighter, the shortest route leading to
the nearest Exit door is displayed on the Android Screen (see
Figure 4). If this shortest route is infeasible to reach, then the
firefighter has another option to find an alternative Exit door.
The firefighter can press Button A to switch to the Alternate
view that will display the shortest route to alternate nearest
exit, along with the audio instruction playing in the
background. With the help of the shortest route, the firefighter
will know how to reach the nearest Exit door in the smoky
environment (where visibility is almost zero). that will display
the shortest route to alternate nearest exit. The firefighter will
be presented a picture of his surrounding (with clear visibility).
This picture will include the Left side view, Right side view
and/or the view behind the firefighter. Figure 4) shows the

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 Volume 3, Issue 1, January – 2018
surroundings of Room 312 assuming the firefighter is facing
towards the R-tag deployed in the corridor near Room 312.The
firefighter will press button B if he wants to repeat the audio
instruction again.
B. Android Smartphone Applications:
Android Smartphone provides great features to build multiple
applications in one single application. Android client module
consists of Bluetooth module, Android basic Drawing APIs,
OpenGL libraries, and shortest route applications.
V. FIREGUIDE CLIENT ARCHITECTURE
The description of each module is as follows-
A. Bluetooth Module –
V.
The UID of R-tag scanned by RFID glove needs to be
transferred to the Smartphone hence Bluetooth Module is used.
As soon as the main application starts, Bluetooth service is
initiated as a background thread. Bluetooth service starts
running as soon as the application is turned ON. There is a
constant handshake between Bluetooth and RFID glove at short
intervals. If handshake signals are not received for a time
interval then it signifies that the Bluetooth is disconnected. A
new connection is made as soon as it is acknowledged that the
previous one is broken.
FIREGUIDE system uses multiple wireless technologies such
as Bluetooth module and RFID.FIREGUIDE system includes
Shortest Route application to guide a firefighter towards the
EXIT doors.
VI. SHORTEST ROUTE APPLICATION
Fig.5: Shortest Route Path Application
IJISRT18JA235 www.ijisrt.com
International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology
ISSN No:-2456 –2165
A. RFID Processing Module:
Every R-tag has a unique identifier (UID). On scanning an R-
tag, the RFID processing module extracts the UID and sends it
to the server over a Bluetooth network.
B. Shortest Route Images:
For each R-tag corresponding images of shortest route to exit
will be stored in the database along with the written
instructions on the images which will guide the firefighter to
the nearest exit. If in case the provided shortest route is blocked
then alternate shortest path images will also be stored in the
database and will be displayed when the firefighter presses
button A for displaying alternate shortest route images.
Fig. 6: Parsing of Floor Blueprint
C. Flow of events in the Shortest Route First is as follows:
1. Start
2. Firefighter scans the RFID tag using the RFID Glove.
3. Unique RFID number is read by the RFID receiver.
4. Bluetooth module transfers this ID to the Server.
5. Server accepts the ID and passes it as a parameter to the
shortest route module.
6. After designing the shortest route path using the Dijkstra’s
algorithm, it retrieves the associated audio file and the clear
images of the surrounding (left view, right view, front view)
from the server.
7. Audio instruction starts playing and the shortest path is
displayed on the FIREGUIDE application.
8. If Firefighter presses button A, alternate shortest path will be
computed and will be displayed on the screen.
9. If firefighter presses button B, audio instruction is repeated.
VII. CONCLUSION
We are using java to develop the Android based client software
and C# for the server application. Postgre SQL database with
Post GIS libraries is used to answer each query. To avoid the
cost of a cellular data plan, we will use a Bluetooth module
between the Android Smartphone and the server. In a real
environment a cellular data connection must be used. The R-
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ISSN No:-2456 –2165

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